Netflix had a big press event to promote its launch in Canada today. Dozens of random members of the public showed up, happy to give the assembled press soundbites. Except these people were paid extras!

The Globe and Mail reports that Netflix hired extras for the event and handed out scripts asking them to:

Behave as members of the public, out and about enjoying their day-to-day life, who happen upon a street event for Netflix and stop by to check it out… Extras are to look really excited, particularly if asked by media to do any interviews about the prospect of Netflix in Canada

See, if we had been at this event we would have been suspicious at the first sign of a "really excited" Canadian.

Netflix spokespeople has been furiously spinning the incident, claiming that it was simply a commercial shoot that got out of hand. But they would say that. How do we know that these spokespeople aren't themselves paid extras in an elaborate, 143-year production known as 'Canada'?